Deportivo Quito contra Barcelona

So it's been way too long since I've blogged. I'm sorry about that, especially for those of you who read this blog in hopes to procrastinate working for a little while longer. Anyway, maybe today this will knock off three more minutes of your workday. Also, if you want to knock off more time, I've added more photos. Look at the links to the right and click on the one for my photos.

So the latest updates are that I took my first test in Spanish yesterday. I have to make an eighty percent on the test to be certified to volunteer with the Red Cross. I won't find out if I passed until Tuesday. I also started working with a pediatrician in the mornings here, and apparently I'm supposed to teach an anatomy and physiology class for an hour and half on Monday afternoons for the next eight weeks. Thankfully the class is in English. Needless to say, Life in Ecuador is random.

So I went to a soccer match the other day. TOTAL MAYHEM!!! First, it was Deportive Quito versus Barcelona. Against what you might think, it was between two of the biggest teams in Ecuador (not from Spain). Anyway, there's this kid that lives with our family who bleeds Deportivo Quito, so of course I bought a $5 jersey and went to the game with a few friends. Let me tell you a few things that went down at the match.
1. When we entered it was so crowded that we couldn't see the game. Then we see these folks scaling what turns out to be a wall to watch the game from a ledge. We decide it's a good idea and do it. Turns out we had to enter the girls bathroom climb a ledge there then crawl through a broken "window" (metal bars) to get on the ledge for the game. Could you imagine that happening in Jordan-Hare? Anyway, we had a great view up there.
2. I also saw about four fist fights in the crowd during the game.
3. They sell many more tickets than people can actually watch the game, so at one point during the game we hear this huge BOOM below us, then saw a flood of people enter and push and shove until I thought someone was going to die in the mob. Turns out the people BROKE DOWN A METAL DOOR in order to enter the stadium! Total madness. Thankfully no one got hurt.
4. Finally, towards the end of the game it was pretty cold. I could tell others were cold, but there was really nothing to do about it I thought. Then I looked to my left and saw a big ass fire!!! Turns out the team that was losing was burning all the flags of the winning team. I mean it was in the stands, and it was BIG. I mean probably ten feet by ten feet and five feet high. Which in the middle of the crowded stadium is pretty substantial. I waited for the police or whoever to come put it out, but they didn't. Apparently, it's totally normal to have bonfires out of opponents garments during a game.
Anyway, though the fans are MUCH crazier than at an SEC football game, the game is not nearly as exciting, but it just isn't loud at all. I mean there are fanatics that do some crazy stuff like that guy from South Korea that lit himself on fire, but the atmosphere is not near as loud as Jordan-Hare.

Anyhow, I promise the car ride story from Venezuela soon. I've just been real busy. I've enjoyed yall's comments! Thanks!

Blog Points:
1. Hearing the Talking Heads blasting Psychokiller out of a car was pretty fabulous.
2. My red cross volunteering class ordered lunch to go the other day. So with the lunch came a drink, pineapple juice. Besides being delicious, it was served in a plastic bag.
3. There is a moderately sized store at the corner of my street. It sells bananas. It doesn't sell anything else.
4. My family made burritos the other day. I was pretty amazed, this being the first time I had anything resembling Mexican food since I arrived in South America. So when we sat down, no one knew how to eat them except for Isabela who made them, and even she wasn't too sure. I had to teach a South American family how to eat a burrito. So weird.

Yall check out the pics!